180 



CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. (CIVIL-SEEVICE REFORM.) 



act is in the teeth of it. The Government 

 should have the largest choice among those 

 likely to answer the requirements as to quali- 

 fications for office, and yet you limit the choice 

 of the Government in the body of the bill to 

 the lowest grade. 



" Again : 



" Whereas, justice, as well as economy, efficiency, 

 and integrity in the public service, will be promoted 

 by substituting open and uniform competitive exam- 

 inations for the examinations heretofore held in pur- 

 suance of the statutes of 1853 and 1855. 



" Economy, efficiency, and the integrity of 

 the service will be promoted, says the pream- 

 ble, by substituting competitive examinations, 

 and yet the body of the bill denies the compet- 

 itive examination, so far as the public gen- 

 erally are concerned, to all persons except for 

 the lowest grade of offices. But reference has 

 been made here to the letter and doctrines of 

 Mr. Jefferson on this question. He has been 

 cited as authority, and he is very high author- 

 ity on any subject that he ever handled. There 

 are certain expressions in his letter to Mr. Lin- 

 coln that are warped to mean that removals 

 should take place for cause only, and that 

 qualifications and fitness alone should be looked 

 to. Mr. Jefferson made very important qualifica- 

 tions of that doctrine in that letter. I propose 

 to read a portion of it. He speaks of the action 

 of the leaders of the Federal party at that time, 

 and says (see his letter to Levi Lincoln, dated 

 25th of October, 1802, vol. iv, Jefferson's 

 Works, page 450) : 



" They are trying slanders now which nothing 

 could prompt but a gall which blinds their judgments 

 as well as their consciences. I shall take no other re- 

 venge than by a steady pursuit of economy and peace, 

 and by the establishment of republican principles in 

 substance and in form, to sink Federalism into an 

 abyss from which there shall be no resurrection for it. 

 I still think our original idea as to office is best ; that 

 is, depend for the obtaining a just participation on 

 deaths, resignations, and delinquencies. 



" But Mr. Jefferson says more than that : 

 " This will least affect the tranquillity of the people 

 and prevent their giving in to the suggestion of our 

 enemies, that ours has been a contest for office, not for 

 princ.iple. This is rather a slow operation [and if 

 he had been confined to the lowest grade ot office 

 alone he would have thought it a great deal slower] 

 but it is sure if we pursue it steadily, which, how- 

 ever, has .not been done with the undeviating resolu- 

 tion I could have wished. 



" Mr. Jefferson only waited for deaths, res- 

 ignations, and delinquencies. When these 

 came, a Eepublican, as the Democrats were 

 then called, was to be put into office. He de- 

 clares that was very slow. And what does 

 this bill do ? It waits in the same manner for 

 deaths, resignations, or delinquencies, but only 

 in the lower grades. It does not give us the 

 chance of putting in a Democrat in every grade 

 that becomes vacant, because the competitive 

 examination must be from those in office at 

 the time ; for all above the lowest grade. It 

 confines us to the lowest grade. What would 

 Mr. Jefferson have said if there had been an 



attempt to confine him to the lowest grade in' 

 filling offices where vacancies occurred in the 

 manner already designated? He would have 

 thought it was a great deal slower than the 

 slowness of which he complained. 

 " Again, he said : 



"To these means of obtaining a just share in the 

 transaction of the public business shall be added one 

 other, to wit, removal for electioneering activity. 



" What would he have said to the hundreds 

 of clerks who are given time when elections 

 come on to go to Ohio, and the extreme limits, 

 wherever there is a Eepublican State, to take 

 an active part in controlling the State elections ? 

 Would he not have swept the last one of them 

 from office ? He adds 4 Or open and indus- 

 trious opposition to the principles of the pres- 

 ent Government, legislative and executive.' 



" If they took an active part in politics 

 against him, or if they were open in opposi- 

 tion to ^he principles of the party in power 

 administering the Government, they were to 

 go by the board. Hear him again : 



"Every officer of the Government may vote at 

 elections according to his conscience ; but w$ should 

 betrav the cause committed to our care were we to 

 permit the influence of official patronage to be used 

 to overthrow that cause. Your present situation will 

 enable you to judge of prominent oifenders in your 

 State, in the case of the present election. 



" ' Prominent offenders in your State.' That 

 is, those who had taken a prominent part 

 against his party in Connecticut. That was 

 what he meant, and it would be left to Mr. Lin- 

 coln to judge of those who had been prominent 

 in that way. Then he adds, ' I pray you to 

 seek them, to mark them, to be quite sure of 

 your ground, that we may commit no error or 

 wrong, and leave the rest to me.' 



" He was President and said : 'Seek them; 

 mark them ; be quite sure of your ground, and 

 then leave the rest ' to him ; he would take 

 care of it. Again he says : 



" I have been urged to remove Mr. Whittemore, the 

 surveyor of Gloucester, on grounds of neglect of duty 

 and industrious opposition. Yet no facts are so dis- 

 tinctly charged as to make the step sure which we 

 should take in this. Will you take the trouble to 

 satisfy yourself on this point ? I think it not amiss 

 that it should be known that we are determined to 

 remove officers who are active or open-mouthed against 

 the Government, by which I mean the Legislature as 

 well as the Executive. 



"Mark his language. He thought it not 

 amiss that it should be known that they were 

 determined to remove from office those who 

 had been active and open-mouthed against the 

 Government whether in the legislative or the 

 executive department. That was the sort of 

 civil service that Mr. Jefferson advocated ; that 

 was the advice he gave to his friend Lincoln, 

 of Connecticut ; and mind you, he says, ' Mark 

 them, and leave the rest to me.' And s"o it 

 will be, no matter what civil-service bill you 

 may pass; whenever the President and the 

 heads of departments desire to do so, they will 

 mark them, and they will find a way of getting 

 rid of them. 



